Adam recalls the creation of Eve.
He eloquently appeals for food and drink.
Book I. Chapter XXXIV.
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And on the morning of the
forty-third day, they came out of the cave, sorrowful and
weeping. Their bodies were lean, and they were parched from
hunger and thirst, from fasting and praying, and from their heavy
sorrow on account of their transgression.
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And when they had come out of
the cave they went up the mountain to the west of the garden.
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There they stood and prayed
and besought God to grant them forgiveness of their sins.
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And after their prayers Adam
began to entreat God, saying, "O my Lord, my God, and my Creator,
Thou didst command the four elements to be gathered together, and they
were gathered together by Thine order.
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"Then Thou spreadest Thy
hand and didst create me out of one element, that of dust of the
earth; and Thou didst bring me into the garden at the third hour, on a
Friday, and didst inform me of it in the cave.
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"Then, at first, I knew
neither night nor day, for I had a bright nature; neither did the
light in which I lived ever leave me to know night or day.
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"Then, again, O Lord, in
that third hour in which Thou didst create me, Thou broughtest to me
all beasts, and lions, and ostriches, and fowls of the air, and all
things that move in the earth, which Thou hadst created at the first
hour before me of the Friday.
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"And Thy will was that I
should name them all, one by one, with a suitable name. But Thou
gavest me understanding and knowledge, and a pure heart and a right
mind from Thee, that I should name them after Thine own mind regarding
the naming of them.
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"O God, Thou madest them
obedient to me, and didst order that not one of them break from my
sway, according to Thy commandment, and to the dominion which Thou
hast given me over them. But now they are all estranged from me.
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"Then it was in that
third hour of Friday, in which Thou didst create me, and didst command
me concerning the tree, to which I was neither to draw near, nor to
eat thereof; for Thou saidst to me in the garden, 'When thou eatest of
it, of death thou shalt die.'
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"And if Thou hadst
punished me as Thou saidst, with death, I should have died that very
moment.
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"Moreover, when Thou
commandest me regarding the tree, I was neither to approach nor to eat
thereof, Eve was not with me; Thou hadst not yet created her, neither
hadst Thou yet taken her out of my side; nor had she yet heard this
order from Thee.
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"Then, at the end of the
third hour of that Friday, O Lord, Thou didst cause a slumber and a
sleep to come over me, and I slept, and was overwhelmed in sleep.
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"Then Thou didst draw a
rib out of my side, and created it after my own similitude and
image. Then I awoke; and when I saw her and knew who she was, I
said, 'This is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; henceforth she
shall be called woman.'
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"It was of Thy good
will, O God, that Thou broughtest a slumber and a sleep over me, and
that Thou didst forthwith bring Eve out of my side, until she was out,
so that I did not see how she was made; neither could I witness, O my
Lord, how awful and great are Thy goodness and glory.
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"And of Thy goodwill, O
Lord, Thou madest us both with bodies of a bright nature, and Thou
madest us two, one; and Thou gavest us Thy grace, and didst fill us
with praises of the Holy Spirit; that we should be neither hungry nor
thirsty, nor know what sorrow is, nor yet faintness of heart; neither
suffering, fasting, nor weariness.
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"But now, O God, since
we transgressed Thy commandment and broke Thy law, Thou hast brought
us out into a strange land, and has caused suffering, and faintness,
hunger and thirst to come upon us.
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"Now, therefore, O God,
we pray Thee, give us something to eat from the garden, to satisfy our
hunger with it; and something wherewith to quench our thirst.
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"For, behold, many days,
O God, we have tasted nothing and drunk nothing, and our flesh is
dried up, and our strength is wasted, and sleep is gone from our eyes
from faintness and weeping.
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"Then, O God, we dare
not gather aught of the fruit of trees, from fear of Thee. For
when we transgressed at first Thou didst spare us, and didst not make
us die.
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"But now, we thought in
our hearts, if we eat of the fruit of trees, without God's order, He
will destroy us this time, and will wipe us off from the face of the
earth.
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"And if we drink of this
water, without God's order, He will make an end of us, and root us up
at once.
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"Now, therefore, O God,
that I am come to this place with Eve, we beg Thou wilt give us of the
fruit of the garden, that we may be satisfied with it.
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"For we desire the fruit
that is on the earth, and all else that we lack in it."
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